South Korea Expands Depopulation Area List to 92 Municipalities

South Korea has designated three additional municipalities as depopulation areas, bringing the nationwide total to 92 as the government expands support for communities facing sustained population decline.

The Interior Ministry added Geumjeong Ward in Busan, Dongducheon north of Seoul and the southern coastal city of Tongyeong to the list. The three join 89 cities, counties and urban wards that had already been classified as vulnerable to regional extinction.

The designation system was introduced in 2021 to identify local governments requiring concentrated assistance as low birth rates and the heavy concentration of people and economic activity in the capital region weaken communities elsewhere. Inclusion on the list gives central and local authorities a framework for directing programs and funding toward the places judged to face the greatest demographic pressure.

The updated distribution shows that the challenge remains especially pronounced outside the Seoul metropolitan area. South Jeolla Province has 16 designated areas, the largest number among the provinces listed by the ministry, followed by North Gyeongsang Province with 15. South Gyeongsang Province and Gangwon Province each have 12.

North Jeolla Province accounts for 10 designated areas, while South Chungcheong Province has nine and North Chungcheong Province has six. The addition of Geumjeong Ward, Dongducheon and Tongyeong also illustrates that demographic risk is not confined to remote rural counties. It extends to an urban district in South Korea’s second-largest city, a city near the capital and a regional coastal center.

The government has established a local extinction response fund intended to provide 1 trillion won, or about $747 million, each year for measures aimed at slowing or reversing decline. The funding is designed to support locally tailored responses rather than applying a single national program to communities with different economic and demographic conditions.

Interior Minister Yun Ho-jung said the government would concentrate support across ministries and adapt measures to local circumstances. The expanded list will therefore shape how national resources are distributed as officials seek to preserve local services, strengthen regional communities and address the widening demographic imbalance between the capital area and much of the rest of the country.

The increase from 89 to 92 designated municipalities underscores the scale of the policy challenge. While the classification makes the three newly added areas eligible for focused attention, it also places them within a broader national effort to respond to population decline through sustained funding and region-specific planning.